The Other Side of the Mirror
by Evapa
Summary: A boy from outside the Elemental Nations is brought by his parents to the Village Hidden in the Leaf. Now, he is 13 years old and becoming a Genin. Later gaining a snake summon and trying to save those he cares about, he prepares to take on evil head-on.


Chapter 1: A Life Anew

"Watch your kunai hand, Veren. If you drop it much lower, you will leave yourself open to an attack by your opponent." Charo's warning seemed to fall on empty ears. Hands flashing, a flat palm caught Veren on the stomach and knocked the wind out of him completely.

Veren fell to the ground, his blonde hair falling in front of his eyes as he grabbed his midsection from the hit. The training seemed to be too much and his physique never seemed to be enough for his trainer. On his arm he wore a sign of his mentor that resembled a flame surrounded by a sunburst. Veren's cloak fell limp upon the ground and shadowed his right arm that held his kunai. Sun beat down on his brow as he squinted through the light to look at his mentor. "I am never going to be a fast as you, Charo. As long as you have trained me, you know that my taijutsu has never been good. Let's skip to the genjutsu." His slight smile was a false hope as Charo frowned down on him.

"You can't always use your genjutsu. If someone sees through your guise, they will tear you apart if you cannot defend yourself. You say that you dream of joining the Ninja Academy, but you can't join if you can't take the training." Gritting his teeth, Veren stood up slowly and shifted his black boots in the sandy dirt. "That's better. Let's dance." Charo pulled another kunai out of his blue jumpsuit and stepped forward like a flash of lightning. Veren lifted his left hand and seemed to disappear before Charo's eyes. His mentor, however, saw through his guise. The dust began to rise from the ground and swirl slightly around the pair.

"Ninjutsu and genjutsu can still change the flow of battle, though." Veren slid his arm out of the cloud and towards his mentor. Charo, mirthful brown eyes shining, flicked his wrist and evaded the strike towards him. Reaching forward, he grabbed the cloak of Veren through the haze.

"Yet your choice of clothing gets you caught by your enemy. You will never make it in the Ninja Academy if you keep wearing your odd Western clothes." Pulling back, the mentor found only a cloak covered in dust as the air began to rise more and the dust became thicker and almost made him cough from it. Charo took a defensive stance with his kunai as he prepared for an attack from the haze his student had brought around them. His genjutsu had improved much since he had first taught him how to channel his chakra.

Veren slid through the dust behind his mentor, kunai blades flickering slightly in the dust-choked light, with his green shirt covered in dirt and his dark brown pants made lighter with the light covering of dust. Leaping forward, Veren grabbed his mentor as he prepared to grapple and finally defeat his mentor for once. As his hand snatched the shirt, it transformed into his cloak he had dropped earlier. "Karawimi no jutsu," Veren mumbled as noticed his mentor's substitution jutsu. Inaudible words began to come out of his mouth and his mentor could not hear him from his hiding place.

Charo smiled through the haze at the shadowy view of his student. His student was persevering and was proving his skills already. Maybe he had underestimated his pupil, but he would not easily give him the chance to be able to join at the Ninja Academy and become a Chunin through the exams. Still, he would have to teach him more if he were to ever get there at all. Leaping through the haze, Charo began his hand signs long before he made it to his target. "Katon Ryuuka no jutsu, Dragon Fire Skill!" Flames leaped from his mouth and arched towards his pupil in front of him. As soon as the fire hit the target, it simply faded like mist from the attack. It was his student's own jutsu, one that made shadowy figures of him instead of shadow clones, a forbidden ninjutsu. "I see you have been working on your ninjutsu and genjutsu immensely. That will not save you in a battle, still. Veren, you know as well as I that this is a taijutsu training session. If you would like for me to show you true power, keep this up." The annoyance in his mentor's voice only told Veren that he was beginning to succeed against his mentor for once.

Charo wiped his brow and put a hand through his short auburn hair as his amber eyes searched the haze for his student. Outlines of Veren appeared all around him, shadows of his student's own creation. Smirking, Charo ran forward and slashed one of the shadows as it faded away. Flicking his wrist backwards, three kunai whistled through the air and caught three of the others. A voice at first seemed low and hard to hear turned into a shout. "Doton Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu, Inner Decapitation Skill!" Charo could only smile as arms reached through the ground to grab his legs. Easily, Charo avoided the attack. Kakashi had told him that technique years ago and he had only just recently told his student how to do it. Veren had not trained enough with that skill yet to do it perfectly.

"Nice try. Now I have you!" Charo rushed forward and grabbed Veren, placing his kunai to his student's throat. "We're finished now." The haze was getting in his eyes and lowering his perception at what he had grabbed. It was but a light trick and the look alike fell apart in front of him. String wrapped itself around him from all sides as explosive tags slid across him.

"It seems I have you." Sliding a kunai across his mentor's neck, Veren smiled. It was too soon to be feeling triumph, though. He could feel kunai pressing into his soft spots, waiting to get to his inside. The Charo in front of him winked out with a puff and the true Charo behind him laughed.

"That was good. I thought I was finally having a student that learned most of what he was given. You forgot, though, that I can make Shadow Clones while you do not yet know how." With that said, Charo stepped back as the haze began to sink back down to the ground. Veren fell on his knees as he felt the chakra that it took to keep up all of his jutsus leave him breathing hard and sweating. "You need to work on your chakra usage better. You may have more chakra than most people, but it will never aide you if you do not improvise instead of using brute force with your ninjutsu and genjutsu." Looking up, Veren saw his mentor still smiling at him as he offered a hand to get up with. Taking it seemed to be the right thing to do as Veren stood and felt ashamed in front of his mentor. He had taken the training much too seriously and such attitude never turned out to be a good thing to have, especially for someone trying to get into the Ninja Academy and someday become a Chunin.

"Come with me, Veren. I would like for you to join me at the meeting I am going to have with the council. We shall see if I cannot get you into the Ninja Academy. I hear that the Chunin Exams will be coming sometime soon in the future. If that will happen, your training will further much more. Maybe you can also meet other ninja your age." Winking at Veren, Charo knew he had hit the nail on the head as Veren's cheeks burned slightly as he stooped to pick up his cloak. Dusting it off, the leathery brown color seemed to come through better in the cloth cloak.

They had been training in a nearby training ground that was once used more often when ninja were more prevalent in their town. Now, only Charo was the remnant left to be there with his pupil who he had taken in when the newly orphaned child needed caring. Veren's parents had died some time ago by the Kyuubi when they had left to help the Village Hidden in the Leaf with it struck. Veren was left in his small village all alone where Charo took him in as his own child. Although Veren was an outsider from the West and had no influence from the Elemental Countries, Charo decided to train him as he would any other child who wished to become a ninja.

The town was a small village, nameless on most maps due to its seclusion from others. Charo had taken to the place in order to get away from all of the hassle of the problems between villages. It had been twenty years since he had left the Village Hidden in the Leaf and he only went a few times since then in order to see his old friend Kakashi or the Hokage of the village. Veren fixed his cloak on his as it draped over his right shoulder slightly and tightened the fingerless glove on his left hand. It was a remnant of his parents, something from their ancestors long ago. He had never understood its uses, although it did come in handy to block kunai attacks with his hand. If he was ever strong enough to actually block most taijutsu attacks.

The council was meeting over whether to allow Veren into the Academy so that he could head on his path to becoming a powerful ninja. He had no money to his name and it would take much faith and belief in him for them to take him in. Yet, the people were good and Charo believed that they would take him in with the best of hospitality instead of refusing him the ability to become a ninja among their own. Veren walked with him as Charo headed straight for the main hut in the middle of the village. Few people were out in the heat of the day to notice the pair heading into where the meeting was. Stepping inside, the temperature decreased significantly as the dimness of the room greeted them. A man with a headband over one of his eyes and gray hair leaned back in a chair while he was reading a book that Veren did not recognize. The others weren't as noticeable as the first man and Veren could feel a shred of nervousness, but he swallowed it down and kept a calm composure.

"Don't keel over, kid. It's not like we're deciding whether you're going to be executed. Relax." The man with the headband over one eye smiled as he spoke to Veren. Flustered, he tried to remain as courteous as he could to the ninja before him. By the look of him, Veren wondered whether he was Kakashi. Charo leaned over to Veren's ear and whispered in the names of all who were there. He was right about the gray haired man being Kakashi, although he couldn't understand how his hair was a nice gray but he was still young to have such hair. Veren decided he would instead keep his mouth shut as he let Charo take the lead in the discussion. The pair sat down and Veren's plan went awry as soon as they reached the floor.

"So Charo wishes for you to go to the Ninja Academy. Would you like to go is the question that needs to be asked. We will take you in, there is no need for discussion over that, but the real decision lies with you. You must realize that if Charo sees your potential, we believe him. It is up to you. Would you like to go the Ninja Academy in the Village Hidden in the Leaf?" The old man before him speaking was the Hokage himself. Veren could feel his spine stiffen as he felt fear leap up from his stomach and cover him. He was never afraid of the kunai his mentor used or the jutsus that could cause his pain. Somehow, though, this encounter that he had been wanting for years seemed to scare him. The old man seemed to soothe Veren by looking him straight in the eye. Veren's green eyes blinked as he couldn't figure out what was happening with the stare. "You remind me of another young lad in our own village. Only in looks, though. He is too feisty to be like you and is stubborn to boot. His name is Naruto. Maybe you can meet him and make some friends if you come with us. Would you like that?"

Veren could feel his voice feeling dry as he tried his hardest to come out with an answer. Only a soft yes came out as he felt that he would rather shout it out with happiness instead of his shock at the moment not let him exclaim. The Hokage laughed as he leaned back and smiled at the young lad in front of him. "You're going to have to work on that shock factor if you're going to come with us. We can't have you keeling over every time you see something new." With that, Veren was overjoyed. He would finally be able to continue in his training and be seen as a true ninja instead of an outsider to the land.

Chapter 2: A Chance Meeting

The village was more than he could ever expect. He thought that it was more of a city if he had seen one instead of a village. The sheer size caught him off guard. There were so many people to meet and see. The Hokage of the village was the one he had spent most of his time with as he prepared for Veren to join in on the last days of school. Standing before the large multistory building, Veren felt small in comparison to something for once. Still, it was his one chance to become something better in this world. The Hokage had already entered before, but it was going to take Veren a couple moments in order to prepare himself. After breathing out, all he could take was one step as a girl with buns in her hair slammed straight into him. The two collapsed as Veren got a faceful of hair and could smell her flowery scent. Pushing himself up with his arms, the girl ended up directly beneath him where the pair had fallen.

"Sorry. Excuse me. I have to go get a file for Guy Sensei! See you later!" With that, the girl pushed him over and stood up and ran into the building. Brushing himself off, Veren could only smirk at the girl running in.

"If I'm going to live here, I guess I will have to get used to the running into part." His footsteps seemed to echo through the building as he walked through the building. The polished wood seemed a dull shine in the lighting. Doors passed by without so much as a sound coming through them. For a large building full of people, it made Veren feel as if the entire place was empty. The corridor turned into another and separated in a few more. The directions given to him by the Hokage didn't seem to help as he found himself going through halls and stairs everywhere. It seemed to be a maze instead of a school. Rounding a corner, a room full of people appeared before him. It seemed that people we're testing their abilities inside of it. Walking in seemed to add a sense of reality to the people inside after laughing at the last ninja who stepped up. His attempt at changing instead created a rock sculpture of some sort of the person. The attempt still had him pass, though. The teacher's voice sounded familiar and by looking in, it was Kakashi.

"How did you manage that? How about this: if you can change that into a very good and usable jutsu, I can at least let you pass this with an average grade. That needed to be a multi-shadow clone jutsu." Turning his head, Kakashi saw Veren looking into the room. "Hey there. Step in." Taking a hesitant step, Veren found himself being stared at by everyone in the class. "This is Veren. He is new here. His mentor, Charo, was a good friend of mine. The training he had received should be similar to what I have taught you. Everyone has already went and tested their abilities. It seems you came at the right time to show us your abilities." Nervousness made Veren almost want to curl up from the fear of having to perform in front of everyone.

"Kakashi Sensei, I didn't know there was testing today." Kakashi chuckled slightly as he smiled at Veren, easing him of his fear somewhat.

"That's alright. You did come in at a bad time to transfer here. It is time for the testing to become a Gennin. This is the Advanced Gennin Class. Charo said that your skills were good, so we decided to bring you into this class. Would you care to demonstrate some of your shadow clone skills?" Kakashi's request made him feel as if fear welled up in him. Veren knew that it didn't work out for him to do shadow clone. _Why do I need to be afraid? It's Kakashi and if I do manage to do well, it will be okay. Just calm yourself down. _Veren seemed to feel an eternity pass by as he waited for Kakashi to tell him to begin. "Start."

The words seemed to be like the sounding of a gong as he steeled himself for the skills he would have to show. Shadow clones were not something he was good at, but he could make up for it with something else. Taking his cloak, he crouched and slid his cloak over his right hand so that not all of his signs could be seen. "Shadow Mirage Jutsu!" Swinging his arm, a breeze swept through the room and ruffled up the papers in the room causing most of them to take flight. Moving with the falling pages allowed him to continue his jutsu as shadowy figures of himself seemed to flicker between the pages and all around him. As the last piece of paper fell, for an instant they could all see three mirages of himself standing next to Veren as each fell as a wisp of darkness into nothingness.

"Veren, that jutsu isn't something that has been taught from your mentor. Why didn't you create shadow clones and prove that you could do it? Let's try the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu." His act didn't seem to please Kakashi ; instead making it as if he were showing off instead of doing what was needed of him. Veren's cheeks seemed to glow red a bit and shone upon his light skin.

"I… can't. I haven't mastered that. This is my replacement for that. I made this jutsu so that I could create something similar to the effect except of them being clones of me." Silence fell among the students over his statement. Every person in their class could at least make one clone if not many. Having somebody with them that could not pull off the jutsu seemed to catch everyone off guard. Although impressed with his homemade jutsu, it bothered them that he was unable to make shadow clones of himself.

"I can't say much about it due to the fact that you haven't trained here with the rest of us. I must admit, though, that your jutsu is very ingenious. I will personally help you master the Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu. You pass." Kakashi's words only confused Veren as he stood there with all of the students staring dumbfounded at him. He only needed to do one thing, failed at it, yet still passed in almost record time.

"But why? I don't understand." Kakashi walked up and patted Veren on the shoulder as he pointed him towards a desk near the middle of the class. Kakashi waited for Veren to seat himself before he responded to his question.

"Charo told me your skill with your ninjutsu and genjutsu. True, you haven't yet mastered Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu, but your genjutsu and the rest of your ninjutsu is easily on par with anyone else in this class. You are a Gennin now." Not a word could escape his mouth or his classmates. The shock of the entire situation made them confused for the rest of the class period.

Chapter 3: A Gennin?

When class was over, everyone was unsure of whether to leave right away or to stick around and talk about what had just happened in their class. A small group of people sat in the far corner talking to each other. Veren still sat in his seat having the shock of becoming a Gennin, having make it through the Advanced Class, without even doing much of anything. Looking over, Veren had a feeling of want get in him as he could feel himself wanting to talk to others. A tanned hand of a girl landed on his desk as he turned his head and craned it up slightly so he could look a light-eyed girl in the face. Her hair was a black and pulled back in a single braid. "That was a pretty impressive jutsu. How did you manage to create a jutsu yourself when you couldn't do a Multi-Clone jutsu?" Her voice sounded soft and nice to him and her eyes didn't seem as sharp and penetrating as the others in his class.

"It took time to come up with it and testing with chakra. Now who are you?" His sudden question had her giggle as she motioned to two others to come and join them. As she sat, Veren had a few seconds to look over the other two. One of them had a fierce look in his eyes with red hair with green eyes just like Veren who wore a brown jumpsuit with training weights on his legs. The other was another guy who instead had dark brown eyes with an accented light brown hair. His clothes seemed similar to that of Kakashi and made Veren think that he looked up to him to wear those garments. All of them had one thing in common and so did every other person in class: they all had a band with the mark of the Village Hidden in the Leaf.

"I'm Linna. This here is Katsu Katsuro." The fierce red-haired guy standing next to her with a tough outlook nodded. "You can just call him Katsu. Next to him is Yasu Kurou. Yasu is enough, though." With a nonchalant nod, the one with light brown hair and clothes similar to Kakashi acknowledged Veren. Linna seemed to smirk at Veren and a slight amount of frustration entered the face of Katsu.

"Am I supposed to have one of those bands or do I keep the one I have?" he said pointing to the one on his arm. Linna tested the tightness of the band and left it on his arm as if she would never want to take the band off of him.

"Don't worry about it. That symbol is a special one and if you truly want to have one of the Village Hidden in the Leaf, Kakashi will make sure that you will have it. It shows that you represent the Village instead of being a ninja from another village. Here," Linna said as she pulled the one off of her forehead and tied it to his right arm. "You can keep that. I will get another one soon so that you don't have to worry about getting one yourself." Only a grunt came out of Katsu who didn't seem to like what happened while Yasu quietly smirked that Linna had basically initiated Veren into the Village.

"What do we do now that the tests are over and we are all…Gennin…right?" Yasu nodded at Veren's statement and Veren took it as confirmation of his usage of words.

"We break up into our groups now. It seems that us three were automatically in the same group and Linna noticed that there was an empty space in our group for another person. That person seems to be you after Yasu talked with Kakashi." Spite was in Katsu's voice as he spoke to Veren. Veren could already tell that Linna's take to him was making Katsu into an enemy of his. As he considered this in his head, a finger tapped on his shoulder and turning around revealed a guy with gray colored hair and round glasses.

"Well, well, well. I haven't seen anyone do so well in their Gennin exams before. If you could convince Kakashi to make you into a Gennin without so much as even being able to do a Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu, you must have something up your sleeves that makes you much more powerful than you let others to perceive you." Linna glared towards the guy now standing next to Katsu speaking to Veren. Katsu even took a step to the side in order to not have to stand so close to him. Veren could almost feel the heat of enmity between the two of them and even from the eyes of Linna.

"This is Kabuto. He's already a Gennin." Hatred seemed to emit from Linna, the girl who Veren had thought could almost never seem angry. Kabuto only smiled confidently at her as his cockiness to her seemed to just want to tick her off.

"Thank you for the introduction, Linna. Now Veren," turning his attention back to Veren with the same amount of courtesy he had towards him in the beginning, "I was wondering if you would come with me to the training grounds after you are shown your Jonin instructor. I could help you with your Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu if you need someone." Linna put a hand over Veren's chest, as if almost keeping him away from the person standing in front of him.

"Kakashi already said he would help him. Besides, it's good for a person that's new here to spend time with their group so that they can get acquainted better. Isn't that right, Kabuto?" A sense of unease and dislike seemed to grow and spread from Kabuto to Linna. Veren had never expected to see her seem so discomforted from her easy-going and seemingly optimistic outlook from the first moment he spoke to her.

"Fine. It isn't good to speak for people so soon. They may not like it if they cannot speak for themselves." Kabuto then proceeded to exit the room and Veren could only feel distrust grow from him towards the others. Looking at Linna, she finally took her hand off of him and returned to her cordial self as if she tried to make it seem as if nothing had happened before.

"Kabuto has been a Gennin for a while and I don't understand why he is so mysterious to everyone, including the instructors. Anyone who ends up in league with him never seems to be the good kind of person. That's why I stepped in so that he couldn't sweep you up and try to twist words with you. He has it in him to be good, but he just won't use it." The little bit of sadness told Veren immediately that it was not a good subject to be talking about Kabuto, so he brought up the subject of who their instructor was.

Katsu popped his knuckled as he relaxed from Kabuto leaving the room. It seemed to Veren that Kabuto had the ability to unnerve a lot of people from that situation. Folding his arms, Katsu spoke, "Our Jonin instructor is Hitomi Hoshiko. She is a medic ninja who originally was from the Village Hidden in the Mist. She only became a ninja, though, here. Other than that, she won't say much about her past. Hitomi is known for her kindness and don't worry about her taking to you; she likes people that are new." Taking a quick look around, Veren noticed that most of the people had already left and the only other one left was snoring away on his desk.

"Should we get moving? The Hokage said that we would have our graduation some time soon. He didn't tell me that everything was going to happen in one day, though." Katsu eyed Veren oddly as if he had said something none of them had expected to hear from him.

"You spoke to the Hokage? How do you know him?" The inquisitiveness seemed to speak for all of them as Veren could feel all of their eyes on him. Shrugging it off, Veren proceeded to tell them the truth of what had happened. Linna seemed to be full of excitement upon hearing how he tried to defeat his mentor, which seemed to be the test necessary before bringing the council to say whether or not he would be joining the Ninja Academy.

"That's quite a story for just trying to get into the Academy. Still, it is very impressive for you to be able to know the Hokage. Not all of us talk to the Hokage often, since he prefers to stick to speaking with the council or visiting his grandson." Yasu speaking caught him off guard since he had not heard him speaking for a while. His voice kind of reminded him of Kakashi's, ironically enough. No wonder he tried to be so much like his teacher.

As the group continued to talk, they proceeded to leave the room and instead head towards the pork barbecue grill. "This is some of the best food in the entire Village!" That exclamation caught Veren off guard as he saw Yasu nearly run full charge into the shop and began to chow down on the food instantly.

"Does he normally do this?" Veren asked. Linna giggled and put a hand over her mouth as she nodded to Veren. Katsu only shook his head as he slowly walked in and sat himself down.

"Are you two joining in?" Annoyance seemed to be in his voice as he looked at the pair. His eyes seemed to stay on Veren a little longer than needed and seemed to hold some hidden flame of dislike for him in his look.

Linna pulled on Veren's cloak and he reluctantly followed her in. "We might as well have some fun and eat good food. Tomorrow, we have to be tested by our instructors. If we don't all agree now, we'll never make it when the time comes to work together and stay Gennin. I don't want to go back to the Academy. Do you?" Her emphasized question raised some murmured 'no' from the others.

"So Veren, tell us about yourself. You've already learned enough about us. Let's learn more about you. What's your story?" The moon seemed to hang in the night sky and light with the stars as Veren elaborated on his story of his life to his new friends. To him, it was a night to remember.

Chapter 4: Another Test!

The sunlight streaming through the window of his room fell down upon his face, nearly blinding Veren as he opened his eyes. "What a nice morning," came out sarcastically as he pulled himself out of bed and began his morning stretches. "That Crazy Pork was a bad idea," he said to himself. "I don't want another dream of a giant pig attacking me." After ensuring his flexibility and doing a few exercises, Veren proceded to put on his tabi socks and begin to get dressed. Stamping his boots firmly in and buckling them, he straightened up and placed his cloak around his shoulders and clasped it. The white shirt seemed to cling somewhat in the morning air when Veren took a step outside. Reaching in his pocket, he found the map he had been given to find his way to the Training Grounds.

An hour later left him still searching the surrounding area to find the Grounds. Upon closer inspection at the poor grade map, Veren realized that he had been holding it upside down the entire town. Checking the sun, he could easily see that the exam started in an hour and a half. Plenty of time to get there for most people, but he wasn't most people. He could barely find his was anywhere if someone wasn't guiding him the entire time. The Village Hidden in the Leaf was just too big! Crouching down, Veren could feel some embarrassment come over his face as he sighed out. "Having trouble?" a sweet voice asked. Peering up, the face outlined in the morning rays was that of the girl he had ran into the first day he had came. Her blue chinese shirt and gray pants accented her pretty face and almost cheery disposition. "Hey! I remember you! You were that boy the other day. Sorry I ran into you like that. I was in a real hurry with the errand I had. I'm Tenten."

Veren could only raise an eyebrow as he stood up and looked her into her energetic bright eyes. "I'm Veren."

"You're a Genin now, right? Shouldn't you be at the Training Grounds? You have enough time to get there if you're the last team to start. You're part of Hitomi Sensei's group, at least that is what I have heard." Veren tried to smile, but the slight look of being at a loss of what to do dominated most of his facial features.

"I should, but I can't seem to find my way there. Letting down my team isn't something that I want to do, yet there doesn't seem any way I can get there." Tenten shook her finger at him slightly as she smirked at him.

"It is always tough for boys to ask for directions. Follow me. I can take you there." With that, Tenten took off down the street at a breakneck run. Veren could scarcely believe what he was seeing as he ran with all of his might after her. Five minutes straight left him panting for breath as she kept her pace up and wasn't even breaking a sweat at all. Suddenly, she leaped over the railing on which the other side was a lining of trees. Fear struck him as he could not stop his momentum, forcing him to jump after her. Grabbing blindly, Veren managed to hold onto a tree branch and looked down. He could see Tenten perfectly fine below him, but the distance down seemed to almost cause vertigo. Taking his time, Veren slowly made his way down the tree and stood beside her at the tree roots.

"Afraid of heights? If you ever hope to become a true ninja, you will have to get over that fear fast. Come on! You're wasting time!" Her voice seemed a little agitated, but the cheery disposition remained constant. A short sprint later revealed them in a large clearing of trees with three teams standing in there. Linna waving caught his eye as he turned to thank Tenten and noticed she was already near his team. Rushing forward, Veren caught a glare from Katsu, who he could understand contempt from.

"You're late. We could have started a lot sooner if you just followed the directions you were given." Veren could feel some anger rise up in him at Katsu's comment, but Linna broke in at the perfect time.

"If you could draw something other than stick figures, maybe he could have been here earlier. Did you have much trouble finding us here? I thought that you might." A warm smile appeared on her face and the scowl Katsu openly wore grew deeper.

Tenten folded her arms as she looked at Veren with almost a look of satisfaction on her face. "It seems I managed to find him at the perfect time, Hitomi Sensei. I doubt that he could have gotten anywhere since he had no idea where he was."

The woman she was speaking to was gorgeous to Veren's eyes and he could guess she was also to most people's eyes. Jet black hair was accented with her pale skin and bright blue eyes that shone out on her face. Veren cleared his throat as he tried his hardest to keep a burning sensation from building on his face. "So long as he is here now, that is fine. Thank you, Tenten. It would be good for you to get back to what the others may be needing you to do." With that, Tenten nodded her head, waved to Veren, and she was off. Hitomi turned her face to Veren, giving him her full attention. "I am so happy that we finally get to meet. I hear your techniques are very much your own and they hope that I can teach you many more new things."

"Should we begin this now because the other two teams have already left." Hitomi gave Yasu a sideways glance as his remark and the group noticed that they were the only ones still there.

"I never knew you to be the impatient one, Yasu. Still, we should begin now. It may take you four all day to do what you are supposed to do. You see these bells?" Pointing her right hip towards them, two small silver bells were attached to her by a string. "You have to be able to get one of these off of me. You can have no lunch until you do so." Silence stretched as the three were around their teacher. The exam begun.

Yasu flung himself towards her as she flipped around and caught him in the jaw with her heel. Linna slid forward and grabbed her ankle, on to see that Hitomi had already substituted herself with a piece of wood. Katsu kicked it up and barely missed Hitomi as she came down and nailed Katsu with a downward thrust. "Do something, Veren!" Linna yelled. Catching himself in the moment, Veren reflexes took over. Grabbing her by the arm, he found himself upside down with the wind knocked out of him.

"Did you three seriously think that you could just grab me and get one? I thought that I had taught you than that." The team watched their mentor run into the trees as they had all slowly stood up from their prone positions.

"Veren! We're supposed to get the bells! None of us will stay Genin is we don't pass this! Having you in la-la land does not help. You need to act!" Katsu's rough side of his tongue seemed to lash out at Veren like a whip as Veren began to realize the severity of the situation. They had to pass this in order to remain Genin. The gravity of it all seemed to set in as Veren changed his expression from one of questioning to one of determination.

"If we're supposed to get one, then we need to be a team. That's what the rules state, right?" Katsu blew him off as he waved away at him as if hoping it would make Veren leave.

"Having you be a spectator doesn't help anything. Yasu and I can get the bell by ourselves. You can stay behind if you like, Veren. Are you coming, Linna?" The pure distaste for Veren seemed to just boil out more and more from Katsu. For only knowing him for a short while, Veren didn't know that one could make such a serious enemy by only being kind. Linna placed her hands on her hips as she stood as if made out of solid rock, immovable.

"If you think you can take on the world yourself, Katsu, that is fine. You are not going to treat Veren, a team member, like that while I'm around. If we're not a team, none of us make it. This is all or nothing and putting him down for not knowing what to do isn't right and you know it."

"We'll talk about this later," was Katsu's only response and he and Yasu made their way into the trees after their teacher. Linna stood there staring after them for a few moments before turning to Veren. He had never had anything of the like happen to him before and a response was lost on him as he knew nothing about what to do or say.

"It's alright. Those two are going to get themselves in serious trouble before long, though. I hope that Katsu doesn't bother you with how he tries to treat you."

Veren knew why Katsu treated him so and wished to tell Linna about how much Katsu cared about her, but something told him not to. It was not his place to talk about it and he would leave that to Katsu. Maybe in time Katsu would realize that Veren was only trying to be a friend, not steal her away from him however ridiculous it sounded to him at the moment. "I'm fine. I just really want to get ahold of one of those bells before we run out of time." Linna smiled and nodded as the pair rushed in after the others.


End file.
